Quote:
Originally posted by mommag2
pretty soon we're not going to be able to have new member pins, because that would be hazing, since actives don't wear them.
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As a matter of fact, we do not enforce the wearing of the Phi ribbons. We make ribbons AVAILABLE so that new members may show their pride for the organization, and we can even suggest that they could wear them every day to class, to the gym, to the cafeteria, etc., but it's pretty much unenforceable. Because what happens if a girl is seen without her ribbon? Any sort of punishment that would ensue would be considered hazing.
However, I see your point. Like I mentioned earlier though, many of the rules about hazing may not seem practical at first glance. New member tests are one of those examples. When a standardized new member test prepared by the national organization is given, I wouldn't consider it hazing in any way. Most NPC organizations agree; Phi Mu and AZD are exceptions to the rule, I think.
But here's a different example: Suzy Pledge Educator has a feeling that some of her pledges don't have their heart in the right place and aren't being pledged hard enough. She wants to make sure that the new girls realize how important it is to know the history of ABC sorority. So she creates a test... a test so hard that probably the majority of the chapter would fail. She asks questions about obscure dates that aren't mentioned in the pledge manual; she requires rote memorization of entire subsections of the Constitution and Bylaws; she asks the hometown and major of every single sister in the chapter. And she tells them that if ONE of their fellow pledges doesn't make 80% or above, they all have to take the test over and over again until they all meet her standards.
Granted, this is an exaggerated example meant to prove a point. My point is that many of our regulations about hazing are created to cover all our bases. A lot of things outlawed (like my original example of scavenger hunts) could be a positive, haze-free new member activity. But things could also go very, very wrong. Our national organizations avoid these types of incidents in ONE of the only ways they can- by eliminating the activity completely.